Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Papal Elector:

Eligible; Ineligible on
8 April 2019

Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien was born on 8 April 1939 in the Bronx, New York, USA. He holds a BA in arts, and MAs in divinity and in arts which he earned at St Joseph's Seminary, Yonkers. He was ordained a priest on 29 May 1965. His first assignment was as civilian chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point until 1970, when he became an army chaplain with the rank of captain. He learned to fly and to parachute. He was later chaplain at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Vietnam. In 1973 he left the military to study for a doctorate in moral theology at the Angelicum University as a graduate student of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. On his return he served as vice-chancellor for the Archdiocese of New York and associate pastor at St Patrick's Cathedral. In 1979 he coordinated Pope John Paul II's Visit to New York, then served for two years as the archdiocesan communications director. He was rector of St Joseph's for two mandates and rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome until 1994. He received episcopal ordination on 25 March 1996, subsequent to his appointment as titular Bishop of Thizica and Auxiliary of New York. In April 1997 he was named Coadjutor of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, which serves 1.5 million Catholics in all. The Pope appointed him Archbishop of Baltimore on 12 July 2007, and on 29 August 2011, Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. On 15 March 2012, he was appointed Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and on 16 May he resigned as Apostolic Administrator of Baltimore.